Astarte smiled wider to see how excited AuraSidra was at the gift, the innocent joy at simple pleasures. She wished all her projects could be so lighthearted, could find their places so easily. While her talent was necessary, she wished, maybe, that others weren't so terribly so. Like the dagger, the cold pieces crying for blood and burning in her hands--

She shook her head, quickly banishing the thoughts. Those were the things that Sive warned her of, the things maybe better left broken unless necessary, the shadows lurking in the rooms. It wasn't as if she had never been told of the possible dangers that led into the rules, but she supposed she was past the age where she could throw herself head long at anything that seemed interesting. While she loved exploring, she was also too aware of consequences, striking a delicate balance between curiosity and caution. Sometimes she wished she was a little more bold, but on the other hand it would hurt Amma and Avi if something were to happen to her, and they meant everything.

Instead, she focused on AuraSidra's magic lesson, following along as best she could. Magic had never played much into her life, besides the innate talent and the singular spells for the hands and light when she needed it. Her companion's talk of energy exchanges sounded much more intricate than anything she had used before. "I see. So it's kind of like balancing, coaxing the elements rather than commanding. Is that...sort of right?"

Sive had told her, in the beginning, that magic had never come easy to her. Even though the sidhe blood ran in her veins, it had been so thinned by her human side that she had to study long nights and break energies to her will, just as AuraSidra had mentioned. Astarte had always felt slightly kindred to that, learning by words and effort. Even though Sive said that magic was alive in her and most serians, being of the fae, she'd never felt it as effortless as putting her puzzles together. That's why AuraSidra seemed so enchanting to her, perhaps, the way she could paint with lights and pull crystals from midair.

She breathed out in wonder, bending her face to examine the delicate stones. It was rare for her to study the artistry of nature, so caught up she was in fixing the broken things made by human hands. Still, if the music box had taught her anything, it was that the two architectures could be fused, creating a whole new path for her to explore. "They're lovely, AuraSidra."

There was one that drew her attention, a soft rose-colored one shining with a pale light, the moss on it dried to a golden brown like swirls of sand. It reminded her of her childhood home, the warmth and light of sunset over the desert. Shyly, she drew it to her. "I think I'll take this one. Thank you."

Her voice broke into a giggle at AuraSidra's joyous exclamation. "That makes two of us."

Perhaps she hadn't made too many friends as of yet, but she felt that the ones she had made, first Bellatrix and now AuraSidra, were not shallow connections. She had much to learn from them, and much to give perhaps, a fair exchange of knowledge and experience building them through their lives. Well, maybe she was being too optimistic, but she had not reached the age yet where such naivety would be foolish. She tucked the crystal into her bag, then grinned at Aura. "What do you wish to do now?"

She nodded exuberantly as Astarte asked about coaxing rather than commanding, glad she'd made some sort of sense; the lessons had taken up several hours of her life already, so it was hard to really communicate what was beginning to be intrinsic knowledge for her.

Coaxing, that's right! And some magic is made by coaxing them inta something new, like you did the branches on this nice sound-maker. That's the type Bonded uses, but is very hard to do.

She beamed as Astarte chose her crystal, finding it rather amusing that the shape in the center resembled a tower. She'd had no real word for it before, but the tower that Astarte described seemed to be like that - a strangely shaped thing that was sort of like the great 'towers' of her ice palace. She'd never seen anything quite so straight before, and certainly not with such a wide top.

With a flick of her ear she sent them back, along with her new box, and paced around in one final circle of excitement. This was an awesome day!

It was a good question though, one that had her perking her ears forward as she scoured their surroundings. Finally, her gaze landed on the stream; it was still strange to her, and it would certainly be easier to walk there than through the thick bushes of the forest. Besides, she wanted to test a theory her big-brother Darroch was working on lately; nature was the entire landscape, streams and stones included, so he wanted to see if the minor awareness he had of these things was simply reflections from the plants or if he could alter the whole layout itself.

If he couldn't keep track of her in the water he'd find her another way, so she'd see if she managed to trick him or not.

Le's follow the stream, she declared, prancing happily into the water and dipping her nose in to flip a stone into the air, It could go somewhere fan-tast-tic! Or maybe we'll find something hidden in the water. And we can play stone-hop!

With that she jumped onto a good-sized stone sticking just out of the water, balancing precariously on the not-quite-flat surface as she flashed a daring grin at Astarte and cried Betcha can't catch me! and promptly launched herself at another semi-clear spot. There really weren't a lot of the larger stones, so the leap was a fairly long one; she had to use her wings to help her make the jump. Most of that was instinct, as her current lessons on flying was leaping off things and flapping, but part of it was figuring that the extra limbs would help make up the difference between her rather teeny self and Astarte's longer legs.

And of course, some of it was not wanting to land face first in the water again!

Astarte rose at the challenge, stretching out her legs and returning her friend's daring smirk. "Stone-hop it is."

She'd never heard of such a game, but it was a pretty self-explanatory title and AuraSidra's example made it clear. As the filly hopped and fluttered, she readjusted her satchel tighter around her neck and pranced onto one of the larger stones. It was true there weren't many that would let her land with full stability--the stones were slick too, with river moss and cool water. A strategical challenge then, to keep up.

Avi would approve of this game.

She focused, sizing up the leap to AuraSidra's rock. A bit out of reach for her legs still, and if she tried it the momentum of her body might send her skidding off anyways, perhaps--well, let's see. She had watched the way dayi Id and sahar Lock fought sometimes, with a sleek grace that almost didn't belong in their large forms. She'd never tried it herself, but maybe...

Taking a breath, she pranced quickly across several smaller locks, dancing to the next as soon as she lost purchase on the last. It was still clumsy, but exhilarating in its own way, falling yet flying in one. She laughed breathlessly as a last hop landed her on the stone AuraSidra had so recently vacated.

"Might not be able to, but I'm going to keep up at least," she said, preparing to jump again as AuraSidra chose their path along the stream.

BIC| She was so amazing! AuraSidra did fluttering, clumsy-limbed little hops from one large stone to the next, but when she glanced back to see how well Astarte was taking to the game she saw the older filly scramble-dance across bits of water rock that were only just large enough for a hoof or two. She seemed to be prancing on top of the water.

Mouth hanging open slightly, AuraSidra gave an excited squeal as Astarte proclaimed she'd at least keep up, spinning full around (and having her back half slide promptly into the stream only to scramble for purchase again) as she squeaked Do it again, do it again!

She flutter-leaped to another stone nearby, very nearly even with her friend at this point as she tried to get closer to watch. With a huge grin and an impatient flick of her tail she called out over the quiet burbles of stream We'll race! One who goes fastest without fallin wins. Le'sgo!

And she took off again, vaguely considering the elegant steps and discarding them; she had nowhere near the coordination yet. Besides, even making the leaps themselves was taking her full focus; landing on a narrow, slippery surface without overshooting into the water was really hard. She could feel the strain in her wings as she tried her best not to flop between standing stones; aiming for the large ones was taking all of her concentration and what little maneuvering she'd managed to learn so far.

Still, she couldn't help but lift her head to find Astarte when she was sure that all four hooves were as solidly placed as they could get; she wanted to see her skitter over the steps again. It was admiration, not competition, that kept her gaze sharp on the other filly.

I'll be like that one day, she vowed, and used a smaller stone nearby to help her launch into her next jump.

Astarte giggled at AuraSidra's admiration, quivering slightly from both adrenaline and the pure fun of play. She hadn't had playmates in so long, she'd almost forgotten that she was still young enough to abandon herself in exploration and movement. Calculating again, she let AuraSidra pull ahead just a bit so she could map out a proper path through the slick rocks without knocking into the other filly. Another breath and she leaped once more into her frantic dance.

Vaguely, in the very back of her mind aloof from the rhythm of movement, she wondered where they were going to end up. She wasn't worried about being lost much--growing up in the desert with only vague landmarks, her navigational skills were polished enough that she could find her way home relatively easily--but she'd never been to this part of the Fields before. She didn't know what lay in the heart of the forest, perhaps small waterfalls they could leap up and down upon, damp caves shielded by moss and ferns, or deep thickets hiding treasures. Anything seemed possible, and that was almost exciting as the playful journey itself.

For the first time since Avalir disappeared, she felt her heart lighten.

But splitting her mind between thoughts and movement did have consequences. While it was easy for her to do so when she tinkered, it was much less so when she was trying to hop along the river, and she had neither dayi Id's preternatural Warrior's grace nor sahar Lock's lifelong training. She'd managed so far, but beginner's luck and youthful energy had to run out sometime.

It was a misjudged leap onto a particularly slippery stone that sent her sideways with a sharp whinny of dismay. She managed to catch and spin herself enough to land rump first in the water, sparing the satchel around her neck. With an embarrassed chuckle she stood, shaking the water from her tail. Avi always said to pick yourself up when you fell, lessons learned.

Astarte nosed her objects, checking that they were still dry, and her crystal still intact. Lucky that Sive had waterproofed the cloth. She trotted quickly after AuraSidra, cutting right through the shallow water. "Seems you've won, I'm a little too clumsy still. I think that's my cue to give it a rest a bit before I really hurt myself."

She didn't mind walking through the stream in AuraSidra's wake, watching her flit almost like a butterfly to each stone flower. It occurred to her that she'd never seen her amma fly; she wondered if it was as pretty to watch as this.

She grinned brilliantly as Astarte giggled at her own fall, sharing in a silent moment of wondrous fun. It seemed silly that she had won; the older filly had seemed so much better at this.

Then the look of outright fondness faded and she was sniffing again at the water, considering copying her friend. Her sides were moving a little faster, perhaps, but Poppa told her that it was good to move until her blood sang; that it would make her strong. Her legs were still quite steady on the stones and if her wings quivered just slightly it was likely from the high-energy that such efforts had given her; she felt as if she could easily be vibrating all over.

Flitting to the next stone she landed as lightly as possible, careful that she not skid straight into the water herself. It was small skill she was building, but practice was practice. Besides all that, the water was shallow but it did have a decent current cutting through it. It might not trouble Astarte at all, but AuraSidra would end up floundering as often as not.

Hopping and fluttering, leading the way, she found a path towards a gentle slope in the bank where they could easily climb out. It'd been a fun game but it was over with now, and more than that, she found she had trouble finding interesting things from the middle of the stream; all she saw was trees and more trees.

A triumphant smirk splashed across her face as she set foot on the shoreline again; none of the plants reacted or quavered in the slightest. Had she only just been within her bondmate's radar once again they would have done as they always did when she went into his lands; reached for her, touched her, greeted her. The plants here, however, weren't registering any new information. They couldn't be, or else he would have had them react to it.

You was amazin, she said conversationally, poking her nose under a giant fern, and look how far we went! What's that way, I wonder? Lifting her head she motioned a little to the left, where the trees seemed to be thinning out. Something certainly seemed to be looming out of the forest there, at any rate. A big rock, or caves, or just a spot where the ground shifted hard and made water falls? Maybe a big tree had fallen over and taken others with it. Only one way to find out!

Flapping hard, AuraSidra reared up and scrambled with her hooves against the bark of a nearby tree, giggling happily as she fluttered and pushed her way up to the lowest of branches. Catching it with her back legs she folded her wings and swung upside down, the bark scraping gently against the back of her rump as the natural curve of her stifle hooked her firmly into place.

It's something big, she called, swaying slightly out of a sheer inability to be still, Everythin' just kind of stops for a bit. Maybe a big hole? Are there big holes here? There are at home, the ice moves and cracks and huge holes appear and sometimes they don' even fill up with water at all.

With a hard flap she unhooked her legs, managing with a great deal of effort not to scrape her fur off while twisting about to fall as lightly as possible onto her hooves. After enough knocks on the head she'd begun to get the hang of dismounting, but it took a mad flurry of flapping.

Giggling again, she turned to pick her way carefully through the trees; dashing headlong would invariably end with landing on her face. She moved forward to lead the way without even thinking about it, not being the sort to hide behind others, though she looked to her friend often as she continued to pelt her with various forms of attention.

Do you think great big holes can form without there being ice to move? Have you seen any before? Sometimes dried rivers can look like holes, but I don' think they really count. T'ink we might find some treasures in there? Ever find treasures outside your tower? I like findin the nice things 'cause I can give them to others.

If she kept this up, they might actually reach the suspected canyon before Astarte even had a chance to answer.

OOC|I can relate! Things may be stabilizing here finally. Hope your out of town was a good thing!